Group met with a dietician as often as the control group to discuss diet, but the dietician gave them advice geared toward no change in dietary sugar levels

Subjects met with a dietician who discussed diet records. After the first month (baseline, regular diet), the dietician made suggestions geared toward reducing calories from simple sugars by 40%. This will be achieved by replacing sugar calories with complex carbohydrates and fats, while maintaining energy balance (same number of calories as the baseline month).

All subjects followed their usual diet during month 1. For months 2-4: sham diet intervention for the control group, 40% reduction in sugar calories for the experimental group. All subjects were allowed to chose any diet they wished during month 5.

Subjects rated the sweetness of pudding and beverage samples that varied in sucrose concentration during each study month to determine how perception changes over time with diet manipulations

Subjects rated hedonic value (degree to which the sample was pleasant) for model pudding and beverages that differed in concentration of sucrose once each month over five months to determine how perception changed over time with the diet manipulation

Test of the minimum concentration of sucrose solution that subjects can discriminate from water. Forced-choice, ascending concentration method.